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2000 Ford Ka MOT pass rate

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Pass rate by postcode →

Pass rate

69.7%

Below average — 4.1 pts behind the 73.8% that cars this age and mileage manage.

Across 759 recorded tests.

Typical repair bill £72–£193

Most common fault

Suspension

34.2% of faults · 21.0% nationally

mostly worn arm bushes, split ball-joint boots and broken coil springs.

Part only £35–£75 for Suspension pin or bush excessively worn. What fitting it takes →

18.6 pts down across model years — 22.0% in 2001, 3.4% in 2016.

Every failure, with what it costs →

Which year to buy

  • Best 2019 92.6% pass
  • Avoid 2008 66.2% pass

Across the 20 years on record, a spread of 26.4 points. See every year →

First-attempt pass
62.2%
Typical mileage
43k mi

The 2000 Ford Ka MOT pass rate is 69.7% of its MOT tests — 4.1 points behind what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 34.2% of what testers record.

MOT PASS RATES

The 2000 Ford Ka on the real record

69.7% of 2000 Ford Ka MOTs passed — 759 tests, 2023–2025

Pass rate

The answer from the DVSA's class-4 MOT records.

Expert verdict

Suspension: 1.6× the national share

Suspension accounts for 34.2% of everything recorded on the 2000 Ford Ka, against 21.0% nationally — 13.2 points above. Ask for the front and rear suspension to be checked on a ramp before you buy — worn bushes and broken springs are cheap to look at and expensive to discover at test time.

Written from this page's own figures: fault shares against the national composition, the like-for-like pass rate, and the priced repair list. How these are worked out

Watching a Ford Ka? Get an email when these numbers change .

How does the 2000 Ford Ka compare?

Cars of this age and mileage average 73.8%, so this figure is 4.1 points behind what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 62.2%. The median 2000 Ford Ka in this dataset had covered 42,906 mi.

Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 70.1% of the time, April–September 69.3%.

The single most recorded failure item is "Component mounting prescribed areas prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength", noted on 10.67% of tests.

  • 759 recorded tests behind this page.
  • 69.7% overall pass rate, 62.2% on a first attempt.
  • Across every year of the Ford Ka, the average is 78.0% — best year 2019 (92.6%), worst 2008 (66.2%).

Figures count every completed test on this vehicle-year in the dataset, including retests. See methodology for the exact definition.

This page's data

Tests analysed
759
Typical mileage (median)
42,906 mi
Make and model
Ford Ka
Updated
2026-11-07

Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.

Top part to budget for

Corrosion Welding Repair

Typically a garage job — get quotes before committing.

Does mileage affect the Ka MOT pass rate?

0-30k 74.0%
30-60k 70.3%
60-90k 63.0%
90-120k 71.4%

Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 55% so small gaps stay visible.

Where the Ford Ka is most common

Across all Ka model years on record (2000–2019): 253,674 Ford Ka cars tested in a recordable postcode area, across 655,731 tests. Birmingham (B) has the most, with 8,526 cars tested there. Cars are counted by the postcode area of the MOT station, so this is where they were tested, not necessarily where their owners live.

# Postcode area Cars Share of all Tests Pass rate
1 Birmingham (B) 8,526 3.4% 21,488 79.9%
2 Sheffield (S) 5,823 2.3% 15,073 79.8%
3 Cardiff (CF) 5,618 2.2% 16,377 74.4%
4 Nottingham (NG) 5,150 2% 13,926 75.7%
5 Leicester (LE) 4,977 2% 13,139 80.4%
6 Bristol (BS) 4,861 1.9% 13,916 74.1%
7 Chelmsford (CM) 4,617 1.8% 11,368 80.8%
8 Basildon (SS) 4,434 1.7% 11,476 81.1%
9 Newcastle upon Tyne (NE) 4,214 1.7% 11,871 78.2%
10 Manchester (M) 3,981 1.6% 9,205 78.3%
11 Peterborough (PE) 3,967 1.6% 10,308 80.2%
12 Portsmouth (PO) 3,930 1.5% 11,197 76.3%
13 Norwich (NR) 3,848 1.5% 11,294 79.7%
14 Maidstone (ME) 3,809 1.5% 9,774 80.5%
15 Liverpool (L) 3,781 1.5% 9,624 79.4%
16 Derby (DE) 3,751 1.5% 9,397 79.2%
17 Coventry (CV) 3,719 1.5% 9,343 78.4%
18 Ashford (TN) 3,568 1.4% 9,142 79.3%
19 Romford (RM) 3,508 1.4% 8,094 85.0%
20 Doncaster (DN) 3,455 1.4% 8,911 78.6%

The twenty areas with the most Ford Ka cars in the record, sorted by car count — sort the columns for a different question. Cars tested at a station whose postcode area could not be resolved are counted in the model's total but in no area, so the shares add up to slightly under 100% even across every area, and an area's cars are a subset of the model's. Pass rate is blank below 30 tests in an area, where a percentage is noise rather than a finding. How this model's pass rate varies by postcode →

Regional pass rates for the Ka

Region Tests Pass rate
South East 232 73.7%
East of England 112 69.6%
South West 105 64.8%
East Midlands 86 64.0%
West Midlands 72 59.7%
North West 46 78.3%
Wales 33 57.6%
London 31 80.6%
Yorkshire 19 78.9%

Regions come from the postcode area recorded at the test station. Areas on region borders are assigned to the region with the majority of their population.

What fails a 2000 Ka

Everything a tester recorded on this vehicle, grouped into the inspection sections that produced it. The notch on each bar is the national share, so you can see at a glance whether this car is unusual or just ordinary.

Suspension 34.2%
+13.2 pts vs national national 21.0% Price suspension parts
Brakes 17.9%
−3.0 pts vs national national 20.9% Price brakes parts
Tyres 10.0%
−9.8 pts vs national national 19.8% Compare tyre prices
Lamps & electrics 8.0%
−4.2 pts vs national national 12.2% Order bulbs & wipers
Show the other 6 fault categories
  • Body & chassis 6.4%
  • Steering 4.9%
  • Emissions & leaks 4.7%
  • Seat belts 4.4%
  • Visibility 3.5%
  • Identification 3.0%

Shares are of every item recorded on 2000 Ford Ka tests — a composition, so they add to 100% across all sections, not per test.

A test can record several items, so these percentages do not add up to 100%. The exact strings, with prices, are in the full DVSA record at the bottom of this page.

Before your test

Three checks worth doing on a 2000 Ka

These are not generic tips — they are the faults recorded most often on this exact model, rewritten as things you can check yourself. All three take about ten minutes and cost nothing.

  1. Check corrosion 10.7% of tests

    “component mounting prescribed areas prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength”

    Look under the sills, around the jacking points and where the suspension mounts meet the body. Flaking, holed or crumbly metal fails; a brown stain on sound metal does not.

  2. Check the suspension joints 8.0% of tests

    “pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn”

    With the car parked on level ground, rock the top of each front wheel in and out while someone watches the suspension arm. Clunks, or rubber boots split and greasy, are what testers record here.

  3. Check the battery 3.0% of tests

    “battery(ies) insecure”

    Check the battery is secure and its terminals are clean and tight — a loose battery is a fail on its own, and a weak one shows up as slow cranking on a cold morning.

Shares are the proportion of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item, so they overlap: one test can record several.

What it costs to get a 2000 Ka through its MOT

Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £72–£193 — and 12% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.

Average repair across the 10 common items
£72–£193
Cheapest common item: wipers does not clear the windscreen…
£8–£22
Dearest common item: component mounting prescribed areas…
£180–£450
Common items a careful owner can do at home
50%
Repairs that still cost under £30
12%

Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 759 MOT tests on this vehicle. They exclude diagnostics, retest fees and garage labour where the part is a DIY fit, and they are not figures from the DVSA dataset. Older and higher-mileage examples cost more than the average. How these estimates are built → · All MOT repair costs → · Cheapest cars to put through a test →

Every year of the Ka, side by side

20 model years on record, from 2000 to 2019. Across them the pass rate runs from 66.2% to 92.6% — a spread of 26.4 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.

  1. 2000 69.7%
    component mounting prescribed…
  2. 2001 66.3% component mounting prescribed…
  3. 2002 67.2% component mounting prescribed…
  4. 2003 68.0% component mounting prescribed…
  5. 2004 66.7% component mounting prescribed…
  6. 2005 67.3% component mounting prescribed…
  7. 2006 66.8% component mounting prescribed…
  8. 2007 66.4% component mounting prescribed…
  9. 2008 66.2% component mounting prescribed…
  10. 2009 71.9% rbt (sp) efficiency below…
  11. 2010 72.8% rbt (sp) efficiency below…
  12. 2011 75.6% ball joint excessively worn
  13. 2012 77.5% pins and bushes pin or bush…
  14. 2013 79.1% pins and bushes pin or bush…
  15. 2014 80.9% shock absorbers has a serious…
  16. 2015 80.6% shock absorbers has a serious…
  17. 2016 82.5% coil spring fractured or broken
  18. 2017 89.5% headlamp not working on dipped…
  19. 2018 88.7% track rod end ball joint has…
  20. 2019 92.6% windscreen damaged but not…

Colour is the pass rate on a fixed scale, so a block means the same thing on any model. Each year links to its own page with the full fault breakdown.

Compare the 2000 Ford Ka with another year

The raw pass rate mostly measures age. The year comparison adds the like-for-like figure, the mileage bands and the repair bill.

Compare 2000 with another year →

Compare two different cars instead →

Other 2000 cars with a similar record

Closest pass rates among 2000 cars with at least 2,000 tests, so a small sample cannot flatter itself into the list. See the full rankings: best and worst MOT pass rates.

The full DVSA record for the 2000 Ford Ka 10 failure items · 6 advisories · 10 inspection categories · mileage brackets · all of it in the page, none of it above the fold

Every inspection category

Shares of the 2,201 individual items recorded on this vehicle, and the same share across all cars nationally. A single test can record several items, so a row is not a percentage of tests.

Category Items This car Nationally Difference
Suspension 776 34.20% 20.98% +13.22
Brakes 406 17.90% 20.89% −2.99
Tyres 227 10.00% 19.76% −9.76
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 182 8.00% 12.21% −4.21
Body, chassis, structure 144 6.40% 5.57% +0.83
Steering 111 4.90% 2.57% +2.33
Noise, emissions and leaks 107 4.70% 5.52% −0.82
Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems 100 4.40% 0.82% +3.58
Visibility 80 3.50% 4.97% −1.47
Identification of the vehicle 68 3.00% 1.76% +1.24

The exact failure items, in the tester's words

Share of the 759 tests on this vehicle that recorded each item
Recorded item Severity Tests Est. cost Part
Component mounting prescribed areas prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength Suspension Major 10.7% £180–450 Corrosion Welding Repair →
Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension Major 8.0% £40–150 Suspension Component →
Prescribed areas prescribed area strength or continuity significantly reduced Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems Major 7.9% £40–120 Seat Belt →
Battery(ies) insecure but not likely to fall from carrier Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment Minor 3.0% £60–140 Battery →
Headlamp lens slightly defective Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment Minor 2.6% £5–25 Headlight Bulb →
Service brake imbalance across an axle Brakes Major 2.6% £45–110 Brake Discs and Pads Set →
Wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively Visibility Major 2.6% £8–22 Wiper Blade →
Shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak Suspension Major 2.5% £30–75 Shock Absorber →
Headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment Major 2.2% £30–80 Headlight Alignment →
Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility Minor 2.1% £80–200 Windscreen →

Severity is as recorded: Major and Dangerous fail the test outright; Minor and Advisory do not. Costs are estimates from typical UK parts prices — see how they are built.

What testers noted without failing the car

Advisories are the early warnings — the same parts a year or two before they fail. Reading them is how you tell a car that has been maintained from one that has been patched.

Items recorded as advisory on this vehicle
Recorded item Severity Tests Est. cost
Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension Advisory 29.8% £40–150
Component mounting prescribed areas prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength Suspension Advisory 14.8% £180–450
Flexible brake hoses excessively deteriorated Brakes Advisory 14.1% £25–70
Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres Advisory 13.6% £45–95
Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks Advisory 12.0% £200–700
Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres Advisory 11.2% £45–95

Pass rate by mileage

Mileage Tests Pass rate Median odometer
0-30k 177 74.0% 20,866 mi
30-60k 400 70.3% 44,462 mi
60-90k 165 63.0% 72,230 mi
90-120k 14 71.4% 94,149 mi

Source: 759 recorded tests on this vehicle-year. Every row above is recomputed from the same DVSA extract as the rest of the page — see the methodology.

2000 Ka MOT questions

What is the MOT pass rate for a 2000 Ford Ka?

69.7% of the 759 2000 Ford Ka tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 73.8% for cars first used in 2000. First-attempt pass rate: 62.2%.

What are the most common MOT failures on a 2000 Ford Ka?

The three most recorded items are component mounting prescribed areas prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength (10.67%), pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn (8.04%), prescribed areas prescribed area strength or continuity significantly reduced (7.91%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.

Does mileage affect the 2000 Ford Ka MOT pass rate?

Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 74.0% of the time, falling to 71.4% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2000 Ford Ka in this dataset had covered 42,906 mi.

Does the season affect the 2000 Ford Ka MOT pass rate?

Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 70.1% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 69.3%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.